Don't Cry
by ElfGirl and Prink
Summary: It all starts with a simple question: What if Mariemeia didn't take the bullet for Relena? So much can change because of a simple action. Almost an AU fic with lots of crazy pairings that will show up later!
1. Chapter 1 What If

**Don't Cry**

By Prink and ElfGirl

**Disclaimer:** We don't own Gundam Wing. If we did this would be an actual episode.

**Prink:** Okay, this is our lovely ficy thing. I wrote a good portion of the plot, while my dear friend ElfGirl wrote the actual fic. I just edit.

**ElfGirl:** This is almost an AU, but with some twists. The first part is a flashback so just bear with us because we 'fixed' it.

**Prink:** Reviews, wonderful reviews. We will not threaten to stop posting if we don't get them, however, they are helpful and let us know what we're doing right or, as the case may be, wrong… So if you have a few moments to spare, we would love to hear from you!

**ElfGirl:** Flames, however, will be used to bake the spiffy peanut butter cookies that Prink makes to keep us going.

**Prink:** And they will be laughed at.

**ElfGirl:** Anyhoo, on to the fic!

**Chapter 1: What if?**

He had fallen far, but not far enough. The final blast had destroyed Wing, but the strength hadn't been enough to completely annihilate the bunker. "Get up, damn it!" The boy hissed to himself. He could feel his broken bones scraping together as he started to roll onto his knees, the pain threatening to knock him out.

"Shoot if you wish, I am resolved." Relena's stubborn voice reached him. He tried to call out to her, but the fall had knocked the breath out of him and he couldn't manage more than a whisper.

"I'll tell you the truth before you die," another voice replaced Relena's. "The people are there to follow the victor."

The pilot was on his feet when he heard the gun shot and Mariemeia's gasp. He tottered forward as the little girl whispered, "Miss Relena?"

Une was cradling the still form when the boy got there, and Mariemeia was babbling all sorts of apologies. When the lady saw him, she made a space for the pilot in the midst of the rubble and carefully moved Relena toward him.

The golden haired girl looked up at him with a small smile on her face, "I guess you didn't get to kill me after all."

"Relena," The boy whispered.

"I love you Heero," She stated, her voice wavering.

He started to answer, but her garbled choke stopped him dead. The girl writhed limply as blood trickled into her lungs and robbed her of air. A look of panic almost surfaced on the pilot's face as he searched for some way to help the girl in front of him. There was nothing he could do.

Her involuntary thrashing lasted for what felt like an eternity as the pilot whispered nonsense to her unresponsive form. "No, please don't die…I'm sorry…Don't go…Please…I'm sorry…I love you."

Finally, the shaking stopped and her body relaxed, the blood had won. Anger swelled in the boy, threatening to bring him to madness, but worse than that was the ice cold despair. His world had bled out on the ruins in front of him.

Leaning down, he kissed her cold, lifeless lips before lowering her to the floor. Rising to his feet, the teen turned to where Dekim stood. The commander had remained rooted on the spot, watching the travesty he had unleashed. Reaching for one of his guns, the boy fired all six bullets into the man. Grim satisfaction marked his features as Dekim collapsed in a puddle of his own blood.

The pilot sank back down to the girl's side, allowing the waves of blackness that had battled with him since he left Wing to finally bind him to sweet oblivion. He fell forward, entwined with her broken frame.

* * *

The sporadic clicking of keys echoed off the vacant walls as Heero signed the note and clicked 'send.' 'Sending to appeared briefly, before being replaced with a confirmation of successful departure. The young man's expression hardened, she would get his e-mails one day.

Closing out of the program with a final click, Heero stood and moved away from the small table, removing various articles of clothing as he went. When he reached his boxers, the ex-pilot clumped the pile together and stuffed it into a backpack next to his bed. Heero gave the small hotel room a final glance to ensure its security, before shutting off the light and climbing under the sheets.

He was almost asleep when the high-pitched melody of arriving e-mail reached his ears. The young man rolled over and narrowed his eyes at the computer screen, the words 'new message from hovered in the middle of his blue background. Throwing the sheets aside, Heero returned to his laptop and opened the letter. 'It's done!' was the only message the e-mail contained. The ex-pilot threw his clothes back on, collected his bag and computer, and headed outside.

Duo and Hildie were both outside waiting for him when Heero pulled up, and the two broke into elated chattering the moment he stepped out.

"Took us three years, but we finally found something strong enough to power the damn thing!" Duo proudly exclaimed

"Then we had to waste another four months getting enough of the stuff." Hildie added.

"It all fell together last week, but Hildie wanted to test it before we put you behind the controls."

"To make sure nothing would go wrong."

"And it didn't!" Duo ended ecstatically.

Heero moved past them and into the abandoned hanger where the machine was waiting, perched atop a large flat-bed truck. The ship had been constructed using quite a few parts from Cancer and Pisces suits for practicality purposes, and its shape clearly showed that. Pacing around the craft, Heero noted that the weapons had been either removed or disabled.

"Had too," Duo explained when he saw the direction of his friend's gaze, "we ripped out the arms technology to make room for our junk. Plus we couldn't risk you blasting something and making a scene." The ex-deathsythe pilot grinned at Heero, knowing the young man wouldn't compromise his chance to use the device by thwacking him.

Having completed a full circle around the ship, Heero hoisted himself onto the left wing and dropped into the open cockpit. Hildie and Duo followed him up, quickly explaining the various controls. They had made the piloting as close to a gundam's as possible so Heero would know how to work it.

"Is one of you coming with me?" Heero asked, cocking his head toward the additional seat behind his own.

Duo and Hildie exchanged glances, before the smaller of the two answered. "No, it's for the return trip."

"Only one person will be on the return trip," Heero stated, his cobalt eyes growing colder than usual. "I'm killing her."

"Are you crazy! You can't just kill her, she hasn't done anything wrong!"

Heero gazed silently at Duo for a few seconds before asking, "And what do you suggest I do?"

"Bring her back!"

"And then what?"

"She can stay with us," Hildie broke in. "We can put her in my room and I'll move into the living room."

"And she'll just stay there for the rest of her life? Forget it, she's dead."

"Damn it Heero!" Duo shouted, "I didn't spend forever building this thing so you could waste it on a murder! If you won't bring her back than I will."

The three lapsed into silence as Heero considered his options. "I'll bring her back," He finally stated. "But you two are in charge of her, and if anything goes wrong I will kill her."

"Fair enough," Duo sighed, stepping forward and holding out his hand.

Heero snorted and proceeded give him a small pistol. Duo pocketed the weapon before moving his hand back. The ex-wing pilot glared at the young man, but finally gave in and produced three more guns. Satisfied, Duo jumped off the ship and dropped the weapons into a near by tool box.

Hildie joined the braided ex-pilot and together the two collected a tarp to cover the machine with. Heero jumped out of the cockpit and closed it, landing neatly on the far side of the transport. Together, the three quickly secured the sheet and jumped into the transport.

"We're dropping you at Castlepoint." Hildie explained as they drove through the back roads of Wellington. "I suggest you launch there before heading toward the US, there's enough cloaking on the ship to get you through any sonar they may have."

Nodding, Heero closed his eyes and turned toward the window. Duo turned down the radio so he could get some rest before his trip.

* * *

Desiree moaned and opened her eyes for the umpteenth time. _'This is ridiculous!'_ The teen concluded, deciding to give up on trying to sleep for the time being.

Moving from her bedroom to the kitchen, the college student clicked on the overhead lights and plodded around gathering chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk. She eventually landed at the table, where the previous day's newspaper was waiting for her.

The girl plucked the front page out of the mess in front of her and began to read about how a Dr. Elias Lee had developed a way to revolutionize the space program by allowing common people to move out to space station 'Colonies' where they would have the same quality of life as on earth. The article stated that the actual building of the stations would be put on hold until the doctor could raise enough funding to float his program.

Desiree snorted and moved on to the classifieds section, no one in their right mind would willingly give up living on earth and move into the far reaches of space.

She was halfway through the car section when a firm hand clamped around her mouth and she heard the icy whisper, "Move and your dead." Terrified thoughts of rape and murder flew up in her mind before she felt a sharp blow crack against her left temple, dropping her into blackness.


	2. Chapter 2 Time

**Don't Cry**

By Prink and ElfGirl

**Disclaimer:** We don't own Gundam Wing. If we did this would be an actual episode.

**Prink:** Hi again! Okay, I think that this would be a good time to explain a few things. Number one, the title of this fic has very little to do with the story, unless you read the lyrics to the song by Guns N' Roses. Also, please bear with us through the next two or three chapters, they're going to clarify quite a lot.

**ElfGirl: **Hopefully anyway… Ooh, a million, billion thanks to Neilia-Kay for being our first responder! Hopefully we won't disappoint!

**Prink:** Okay, we're done now… :P

**Chapter 2: Time**

It had been two hours since Heero had brought the girl back, and Duo was getting impatient. "Sheesh Heero," The braided ex-pilot groaned. "Why'd you hit her so hard?"

"I didn't," The young man in the next chair stated.

Duo rolled his eyes, "Fine, whatever." Rising from his seat he declared, "I'm getting a beer, either of you want anything?"

Hildie shook her head, and Heero didn't respond, so the violet eyed young man stalked off mumbling something about manners and responding to questions. After leaving the room, Duo went back to his usual, bouncy stride as he wandered into their tiny kitchen.

The room was painted bright blue, and there were stacks of dishes covering almost all of the minimal counter space. Duo wove his way to the fridge and pulled out three of the twenty beer cans which were packed into his shelf of the refrigerator. He shoved two into his pockets and popped the lid on the third, gulping down half of the can as he made his way over to the living room.

A loveseat, desk, and chair were the only furniture that could be stuffed into the small room. Duo plopped down in the latter of these and began plowing through the piles of spam in his e-mail account. The subject 'Re: the launch is tonight!' from caught his eye and the young man clicked it open.

_Hello Duo!_

_I'm glad to hear that the time craft is done, hope the trip went smoothly!_

_How is the girl doing? I imagine she's pretty unnerved by the whole thing, kidnapping will do that. Chamomile or oolong tea may help her calm down. If neither of those works, drawing a bubble bath and letting her have some personal time could be just what she needs._

_If you need help with anything please contact me, I would love to lend a hand in whatever way I can!_

_Quatre_

Grinning, Duo finished his first beer and clicked 'Reply.'

_Hey Q!_

_Yup, the trip went fine! Heero was going to kill the girl, but Hildie and I stopped him…Some things never change…_

_I have no idea how she's doing, Heero knocked her out and she still hasn't come around. The girl's not bad looking though, but I'm not a big redhead fan…Guess that's a good thing!_

_Hmmmm, I don't think we have tea or bubbles; would beer and an action movie work instead?_

_Thanks for the offer, we should be fine but we'll keep you in mind! (Especially since Heero's being all trigger happy…)_

_-The God of Death_

The ex-pilot had downed his second can as he worked on his e-mail, and began on his third while trying to find another good e-mail in his inbox. He hadn't gotten very far when a yell from Hildie sent him darting back toward his room.

* * *

The girl shifted slightly and let out a faint moan, Hildie assumed it was because of her head. Duo returned to his chair just as the girl reached behind her to grab something and her knuckles scraped against the wall next to her bed. A look of sheer panic spread across her face as she froze for a moment then slowly opened her eyes.

"Desiree?" Hildie asked softly as the girl sat up and pressed back against the far wall, a hiss of pain escaping her lips as her head scolded her for moving. "Desiree calm down, we're not going to hurt you."

The redhead's shallow breathing became more rapid as Desiree searched the room for some way of escape. Hildie pitied the girl; the bars she and Duo had put up on the outside of his windows to make sure nothing happened to Desiree probably weren't helping to make her feel at ease.

"Who are you?" The girl finally whispered, staring at Hildie.

"That's Hildie," The braided boy to her right answered for her. "I'm Duo, and the moody silent guy is Heero. He's the one who kidnapped you."

Confusion momentarily replaced terror on Desiree's face, and Duo jumped at it. "It started with Heero, his girlfriend died because of this guy Dekim so he got all mopey and-"

Heero stood up and left the room.

"Duo," Hildie used the momentary distraction to cut in. "I think it might be better if I tell what happened. Go take a cold shower and then see what Heero's doing, okay?"

The young man sighed but wandered out into the hallway, closing the door behind him.

"I'm sorry," Hildie apologized, turning back to the girl. "Duo drinks to stay happy, and Heero's been on-edge since Relena died. You'll get used to them eventually, I promise."

Desiree just stared dully at the older girl, she hadn't moved since she sat up. Hildie watched her for a few minutes, before remembering the painkillers and water on the nightstand. Moving slowly so that the girl could see exactly what she was doing, Hildie grabbed the glass and plate, holding them out to her. Desiree didn't move.

"C'mon, they're for your head. I can get an icepack for the bump if you want it."

The girl still wouldn't budge.

"Listen, it's basically a really small dose of morphine with other junk added to counteract the drowsy side effects. It'd only hurt you if you overdosed." Hildie explained.

Finally, Desiree accepted the offer. "Thanks," She mumbled, downing the two pills with resolution.

"Anytime," The older girl smiled. "You probably want to know where you are and why you're here, huh?" A slight nod from Desiree prompted her to continue. "At the moment you're sitting in my house on the outskirts of Wellington, New Zealand. The year is AC 201."

Desiree didn't react, so Hildie continued. "In the late AD 1900s, as you know, space exploration exploded. Suddenly, we weren't bound to the earth anymore, we could go as far as time and our crafts allowed. Elias Lee was the man to sell this idea to the masses; he created and launched the first civilian metropolis into space. The world went crazy over it, when the turn of the century rolled around they did away with AD and started After Colony year 1."

Hildie watched as dread crept back over Desiree's face, "That's impossible."

"It's true."

"No, it's 1995. Dr. Lee is all over the newspapers, that's how you know about him." The redhead still maintained her voice at a whisper, but the force behind it was growing stronger.

"Listen," Hildie tried to reason with her. "If you're okay with staying in here alone for a few minutes I'll go grab my laptop and show you."

Desiree nodded slightly, and the older girl slipped out of the room, reminding herself to lock the door behind her. She stepped across the hallway to her own room and wove through the stacks of Duo's stuff to get to her bed, regretting that she had told him to put it in there until she could make space for the boy in her living room. Then again, she had been the one to force him to relocate because of the girl.

Pushing it all to the back of her mind, Hildie swiped her laptop from her pillow and returned to the hall. She moved back to the first room, pressing her thumb against the fingerprint lock that Duo had installed earlier. A light at the top of the device flashed green, and she stepped in.

Nothing had changed from when she left; Desiree was still glued to her spot on the bed. Opening her computer, Hildie asked the girl, "What day did Heero kidnap you?"

"Saturday."

"No, date," The older girl clarified.

The girl thought for a moment, "February 19."

"1995?"

"Yes."

Hildie ran a search through some newspaper archives for the date. "Here," She said, opening the link and turning the computer toward the younger girl. "Is this what was going on?"

Desiree nodded, eyes scanning the page.

"Look," Hildie pulled up the next day's paper.

The younger girl relaxed slightly, "That's today's."

"Yep," Hildie agreed, pulling up another link. "But what's this?"

The girl stared at the screen for a moment, her face growing pale and ice-blue eyes widening with horror. "No," She murmured.

* * *

Heero was in the living room punching away at his computer when Hildie came running in. "She's in shock! What do I do?"

"Get Duo," The ex-pilot commanded, still staring at his screen.

Hildie let out an exasperated groan, darting back down the hall. "Duo!" Heero heard the girl shriek, as a door flew open. Milliseconds later, the door slammed close.

"Put some clothes on and get out here!" Hildie ordered, "Desiree's in shock!"

The door flew open a second time, and Heero glanced up momentarily as Duo appeared in the room wearing nothing but a towel.

"Where'd you put my clothes!" The braided boy hollered.

"They're somewhere in my room," Hildie responded. "Don't worry about it, she needs help now!"

Duo fled back up the hall, and the house returned to semi-silence.

* * *

The girl was frozen in place, her breathing rapid and shallow. Duo moved toward her, twisting her shoulders so she could lie down as Hildie jumped to rearrange her legs.

"Des?" The towel-clad boy asked gently. "Can you hear me?"

Desiree didn't stir.

Duo grabbed Hildie's wrist, watching the second hand as he checked the girl's pulse. "124," The ex-pilot muttered. "Shit."

"What does that mean?" Hildie demanded.

"She's going into panic mode and her heart's pumping like hell to try and fix it." After watching her for another minute he added, "If her breathing doesn't slow down she'll pass out.

"Shh," Duo tried to comfort the motionless girl. "Listen, you need to breathe. C'mon, no one's going to hurt you. Everything's going to be fine. Calm down."

Hildie began to massage the girl's hand, watching as her fluttering chest slowly calmed and Desiree sank into an exhausted sleep.

"Damn," The older girl muttered when she was sure her charge was asleep. "I didn't even tell her who she is."

"You might want to wait on that for a while," Duo responded. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm getting dressed."

Hildie nodded, her eyes following the young man out of the room. When he was gone, she turned back to Desiree, stroking the girl's hair and making sure she looked comfortable. It was going to be a long night.


End file.
